Disclaimer: Characters, names, locations and the 13th Order are all property of Square and/or Disney.

Summary: (KH2 Spoilers) A look at Roxas' story, set before KH2 and leading into the events of the game.

Rating: T

Opening Notes: Break The Chains is still been worked on, I have no intention of leaving it unfinished – I just had to write something based off KH2 to get the spoilers out of my system first. Obviously, there will be KH2 Spoilers beyond this point.

This will probably end up a fairly lengthy fic. I intend to cover Roxas' time in the Order, what him and the second group were up to during CoM and everything leading up to the events at the start of the game, and most likely the opening segments of it. Basically, it's Roxas' story, based on what we know and filling in the blanks.

The Discovered Key

Chapter One
Prologue

A world trapped in eternal twilight, a world of light and dark.
A world where those that are shells are born…

Shadows danced around him, his mind swimming in them. A flat emotionless voice pierced the hazy veil of darkness as it spoke to him in a commanding tone.

"Get up."

Blue eyes slowly flickered open to take in the blurred world around him. Solid brick walls to either side, a cold, hard floor under him … and two black boots planted firmly in front of his face. He pulled himself up carefully, his gaze travelling up to study the person standing over him. Their face was completely concealed beneath the folds of a hood. Blinking, the boy took in the cloaked figure and felt the confusion setting in.

"Get up."

The instruction was repeated more firmly this time, and when the boy didn't make any move, a hand was outstretched, gripping his arm tightly and dragging him to his feet.

As he was pulled along, he finally found his voice, "What are you doing?"

"You are the Thirteenth." The reply was tinged with something that sounded like disgust. "I have orders to take you back with me."

"The Thirteenth?" He yanked his arm back, shaking off the man's clutch and stepping away. "I'm not going back anywhere."

"Would you rather stay here? It's a dangerous place for a Nobody who…"

The boy cut him off, repeating the word. "Nobody…Who are you?" He frowned. "Where are we? And how did I end up here?"

"If you want answers, then you will come with me."

He didn't take much time to consider the offer; with no real of idea of where he was or what was going on, he didn't have much choice but to go along. Nodding, he agreed, "Fine. But you can at least tell me where it is you're taking me, right?"

The cloaked man didn't respond, instead continuing on his way, leaving the boy to follow. He glanced around as they walked, mesmerized by the streets of the quiet town. It wasn't a place that he recognized and from what he could tell, there was no one other than them both around.

The man came to a halt and he found himself almost walking into the back of him. He recoiled in shock as a deep-purple swirling vortex appeared in front of them, however his guide appeared unfazed as he gestured towards it.

"Are you crazy?" The boy shook his head. "I'm not stepping into that thing."

There was a disgruntled sigh from behind the folds of the hood, then the hand was snatching at his wrist again and his vision was filled with darkness as he was pulled into the churning opening.

The room he emerged into on the other side was completely different from the world bathed in the glowing sunlight that he had left behind. Pure white tiles lined the floor and walls. Another person awaited them, dressed in the same black robes that the other man wore, but the boy barely acknowledged their presence, disoriented from the sudden shift in locations.

"Is this him, Zexion?" The new voice sounded even more emotionless and cold. They moved forward as they spoke, handing something over.

"The Superior is waiting, Number Seven." The impatience in the statement was obvious. "I have orders to take him straight there."

There was a brief pause before the new person replied with a barely concealed sneer. "Of course." Their hooded head glanced between them both before they turned to leave.

A bundle was shoved into the boy's hands before his companion, 'Zexion', moved to exit the room too. "When you are ready, I'll be waiting outside."

Carefully holding the folded package out in front of him, he realized it was a black cloak, similar to the ones they had both been wearing. Was he supposed to put it on? He squeezed his eyes shut tightly as he exhaled deeply. Who were these people? They'd been waiting for him…but why? If he could remember what had happened…

He let out a frustrated sigh. That was no good; he couldn't remember anything. Considering running away and leaving, he surveyed the room. Seeing the only way out was that which Zexion had left by, he resigned himself to reluctantly changing into the provided cloak.

Swallowing any doubts, he stepped outside.

As promised, Zexion was waiting for him. "Follow me." Without even giving him a chance to ask any further questions, he moved off again.

They passed through identical corridors, all of them the same dizzying shade of white. The only variations in the décor were some odd symbols that marked several of the walls as though they were some sort of important insignia.

His escort stopped at what seemed to be a dead end. For a moment, nothing happened, and then another of the strange vortexes opened up. Zexion gestured towards it. Understanding what it was he was meant to do, the boy hesitated briefly, taking the time to pull up his own hood, before stepping through.

The scene on the other side was one of total darkness, the only light was provided by the faint glow of a pale moon that reflected off the surface of a calm sea before him.

Another of the black-clad figures awaited him. They sat perched on a formation of rocks, overlooking the water. Their head turned as the boy approached.

"I've been waiting. I went to see him." There was a pause. "He looks a lot like you."

The last statement seemed an odd one, but the words meant nothing to him, though he knew that they should. "…And you are?"

"An empty shell…" Another short silence. "No, I suppose this is my true identity."

He wasn't in the mood for riddles. "I was asking for your name."

"There's no need for such things. What about you? Do you even remember your name?"

"My name is…" He stopped, his eyes closing as he tried to focus. "…I don't remember."

"I see." There was an unmistakable hint of smugness in the response.

"Why can't I remember?"

"That doesn't matter for now." The boy would of liked to disagree with that, but he said nothing. "You are Number Thirteen, The Discovered Key…Roxas."

Notes: Yes, I know it's only a short introduction, I didn't want to spend too much time covering Roxas' time in TT because I pretty much did that in BTC (yay, I kinda got something right!) and it's touched on in the game anyway through Ansem's Other Reports. The real fun with this will be filling in the holes and covering Roxas' time within the Order. Following chapters will of course be longer than the prologue.

Why Zexion to go pick him up? I figured he doesn't do much else so he can be the newbie greeter. ;)

I'm assuming that the beach scene is Roxas' first meeting with Xemnas seeing as he's asking his name and if it was to come later… well, he'd recognize his own Superior. Dialogue there is taken from the game apart from the last bit, which I added on myself seeing as the scene cuts off.